02 Goals & Objectives
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
II. Goals and Objectives The goals of the Campus Master Plan represent ideals to strive for in the conservation and development of the Seattle Campus. They provide a foundation for a vision of the campus for the future. Their major theme originates from the notion that the existing campus is an important place balanced by open spaces and buildings which reinforce and define each other. As an institution of higher learning, the valued significant elements of the environment, both natural and built, must be conserved. Equally, opportunities for change, enhancement, and advancement must be facilitated. The goals described in this chapter are the basis for the general policies listed in Chapter III and development program recommendations outlined in Chapter IV. Following approval by the City Council and the Board of Regents of the Campus Master Plan, the general policies and development program recommendations as set forth in Chapters III and IV, will be used to guide the design and development of each of the proposed development sites. Approved Compiled Plan January 2003 7 The Mission of the University of Washington The campus environment should support and facilitate the mission of the University. The planning process began with the mission of the University as a public institution dedicated to learning, teaching, research, and community service. With the mission as a starting point, input was solicited from the community and goals were created. “The primary mission of the University of Washington is the preservation, advancement, and dissemination of knowledge. The University preserves knowledge through its libraries and collections, its courses, and the scholarship of its faculty. It advances new knowledge through many forms of research, inquiry, and discussion; and disseminates it through the classroom and the laboratory, scholarly exchanges, creative practice, international education, and public service. As one of the nation’s outstanding teaching and research institutions, the University is committed to maintaining an environment for objectivity and imaginative inquiry and for the original scholarship and research that ensure the production of new knowledge in the free exchange of diverse facts, theories, and ideas. To promote their capacity to make humane and informed decisions, the University fosters an environment in which its students can develop mature and independent judgment and an appreciation of the range and diversity of human achievement. The University cultivates in its students both critical thinking and the effective articulation of Portage Bay Vista and the Southwest Campus Figure II-1 that thinking.” University of Washington Faculty Handbook 8 University of Washington Master Plan -- Seattle Campus: Goals and Objectives Goals of the Campus Master Plan In order to support the mission of the University, the Campus Master Plan should: RESPECT ITS STATURE The Campus Master Plan should honor the status of the campus as a national treasure, a work of art, and a triumph of environmental design, enriching life with a harmonious marriage of space, form and participation. ENSURE STEWARDSHIP The Campus Master Plan should ensure good stewardship of the existing campus, maintaining and protecting the value of the University’s physical resources and character, history, architecture and open space. Changes to the campus should improve and enhance, rather than detract from, the value and quality of the campus. The Campus Master Plan identifies and encourages preservation of historic resources and open space. PROVIDE FACILITIES The Campus Master Plan should provide for the facility and infrastructure needs of the next decade. MAXIMIZE FLEXIBILITY The Campus Master Plan should provide the maximum amount of flexibility in order to best accommodate future growth and take advantage of unforeseen opportunities. ENHANCE THE CAMPUS The Campus Master Plan should create an aesthetic quality appropriate to the campus as a whole and to specific areas, conserving and improving existing buildings, open spaces, and views on campus, and looking for opportunities to create additional open spaces. PROVIDE ACCESSIBILITY The Campus Master Plan should ensure access to and within the campus, maximizing non-vehicular travel, emphasizing pedestrian routes for all pedestrians, and promoting the design of environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for special arrangements or adaptations. PROMOTE SAFETY The Campus Master Plan should help create a safe and healthy environment, with personal and workplace safety considerations integral to planning and design of circulation elements, buildings, and open spaces. RESPECT THE ENVIRONMENT The Campus Master Plan should value the environment and strive to promote the conservation of natural resources and goals of the Growth Management Act and Shoreline Management Act. ENCOURAGE EFFICIENCY The Campus Master Plan should encourage efficiency and economy in University operations, with advantageous locations for facilities and advantageous adjacencies of uses. VALUE THE COMMUNITY The Campus Master Plan should recognize the importance of the surrounding communities and strive to achieve compatible working relationships with these communities to improve the quality of life and public benefits for all in the vicinity. Approved Compiled Plan January 2003 9 Objectives by Element new open spaces. • propose design standards that will increase safety and The Campus Master Plan focuses on three elements: open space, comfort in campus open spaces. transportation and circulation, and potential development. The objectives that follow represent ideas for change. They also embrace • link the University’s open space and pedestrian circulation many of the ideas expressed in the University Community Urban systems into the community and surrounding open space Center Plan (UCUCP, August 1998—see Chapter IX). Decision- systems. makers should strive to achieve these objectives. Costs and schedule- related factors will need to be considered in the decision making • strengthen visual and physical links to the waterfront. process. In some cases, when conflicts occur, there may be a need to balance these objectives with other factors such as budget, funding, Transportation and Circulation Objectives academic priorities and scheduling. In those cases where factors such as budget, funding, academic priorities, and scheduling result in a In compliance with the terms of the City-University Agreement, the decision that is not in accord with the goals stated in the Seattle Campus Master Plan should ensure access to and within the campus Campus Master Plan, a full explanation shall be provided for project by all modes of transportation, maximizing non-vehicular travel and reviewers and decisionmakers. encouraging a safe and pleasant environment for pedestrians and bicyclists. Open Space Objectives The Campus Master Plan should: The Campus Master Plan should conserve and enhance existing open • improve the pedestrian experience on campus. spaces and views to and from campus and look for opportunities to create additional safe and attractive open spaces. • increase access for pedestrians and bicyclists, both to and within the campus. The Campus Master Plan should: • designate important open spaces and views on campus • minimize conflicts between pedestrians, bicycles, and and create policies to ensure their preservation and vehicles. maintenance. • improve public transportation with the goal of minimizing • identify areas that could become safe and pleasant new vehicle trips to campus and related parking requirements; open spaces. provide safe, convenient access for pedestrians to and from public transportation. • propose opportunities to use landscape elements to strengthen the structure of the campus. • minimize the amount of new parking facilities while still providing parking for the variety of users on campus, • identify areas where links between open spaces could be including the disabled, with the least impact on the improved in order to achieve a cohesive and accessible campus and the surrounding street system with particular open space network. care to street systems that are contiguous with residential neighborhoods. • incorporate accessibility as an integral part of the design of • maintain the cap of 12,300 parking stalls. 10 University of Washington Master Plan -- Seattle Campus: Goals and Objectives Objectives by Campus Area • locate, landscape, and screen parking to prevent detracting from the overall quality of the campus environment while Distinctive environments comprise the different areas of campus. promoting safety and security. These areas include the Central, West, Southwest, South, and East campuses. Each area is distinguished by varying structures and uses. • clearly identify entries into campus and improve signage The Campus Master Plan recognizes and advances these distinctions around campus. as fundamental to realizing a rich, inspiring, and supportive environment. Development Objectives The objectives that follow represent ideas for change. They also Sites should be selected and developed to contribute to the embrace many of the ideas expressed in the University Community enhancement of the campus environment without detracting from the Urban Center Plan (UCUCP, August 1998—see Chapter IX). fundamental qualities of the campus. Decision-makers should strive to achieve these objectives. Costs and schedule-related factors will need to be considered in the Each potential